Spot on Wilson. Long and BB both missed on the culture and the people. Long I feel looked at the environment of big business in NW Arkansas and thought "those people" would be more like the folks he was used to dealing with but completely discounted the culture of those people. BB I think missed going the other direction by assuming knowledge of the culture and dismissed understanding the people.

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I haven't like Long since the way he discounted John McDonnell's wishes for his replacement.The man singlehandedly built Arkansas track (basically his life's work), won 40+ National Championships but Long chose to ignore his wishes. Arrogance is full display.

I always thought Long didn't grasp Arkansas politics even when he was riding high. Most of the accolades were from national media. Like it or not, the AD at the only major state university has to be a politician (so does the fb coach). Long never seemed to understand that. Another way to view it is that he gave the athletic program an acid bath when equal parts honey would have served him so much better.

I doubt Long's next job will be as an AD. He rose to fame as the AD who fired Petrino and thus put doing the right thing above winning. Lou Holtz also became famous at Arkansas for his "do right rule" which caught the attention at the time of both the nation and Notre Dame. The difference is that Lou did right by suspending his players and yet won in spite of it. Long fired Petrino but went on to having a football program that has struggled for years since. Doing right is all good and well to those not effected by this bravery, but no major football program wants an AD whose doing right results in years of poor performance. I noticed when Long's name was briefly connected to Nebraska, he name got a poor reception with Nebraska fans.

No clue where he was before Pittsburgh; I don't think he has ever led a major college athletic department that was a sustained winner.

And BTW, I don't think he's nearly as respected outside of Arkansas as Razorbacks fans seem to think. His basketball teams, men and women, have not won consistently and have been to the NCAAT only a few time and not won much there. And outside of Petrino's last two years, Long has been an absolute failure as the leader of the Razorback football program.

I'll be surprised if he lands a Power 5 job whenever he leaves Arkansas.

Round one went to Jeff Long and looks like round two will go to the GOBN, if that happens it's probably easier for Gus to come back here as Head Coach.

Norvell will be riding a high with huge name value. He’ll be on everyone’s short list looking to hire a coach. Gus won’t leave Auburn he’ll owe $2,5M, but if he’s fired he owes nothing. Gus will have to be fired to leave. I’d rather take the coach trending up. I still say there’s NO chance Gus ever coaches @ Arkansas.

Leadership development is what I do. When I work with leaders who are new to an organization and they ask me what to do first, my answer is to listen and learn. Don't go in swinging a big stick and making moves; learn something about the culture, traditions, and people. Otherwise, you're going to be walking blind without a cane, pissing people off, and setting yourself up for failure. That failure might come right away, or it might take awhile, but it will happen...all because the leader was tone deaf from the word go.

Jeff Long made a critical error early on; operating under the cover of the man who hired him, Long overplayed his hand. In an effort to rid the Broyles Complex of influence in the wake of Houston Nutt's departure, Long pissed people off. Treated them shabbily. Long-term members of the Razorback Family were kicked to the curb. Did he really think those people would just shrug their shoulders and shuffle off into the sunset? If so, he committed a grievous error. No, those people will keep their powder dry and wait for the right time. When they get their shot, and they usually will, they take it. In a sense, Jeff Long may be the last casualty of Houston Nutt's time at UA.

When a leader cloaks an organization under the mantle of integrity, he or she takes a huge risk. People are human. They make mistakes, they have errors in judgment, they screw up. Any person who puts themselves on a pedestal will eventually be eating dirt. There is a man in Louisville, Kentucky who could commiserate with our current AD about that.

The same sort of statement can be made about branding. If a leader is going to preach "uncommon," it becomes incumbent on him to be so and to produce a product that is. Otherwise, his own words come back to haunt him.

That is very cool that you do leadership development. That is a very important field. If you are ever interested in some leadership training material, the following leadership training program is probably excellent.

Brian Tracy is brilliant. I consider him one of the smartest persons in the country. I use some of his sales training programs (for training myself in sales). I saw an interview of Brian Tracy from several years ago. He stated that he reads voraciously and that he prepares extensively. He stated that if he is doing a 1 hour tape (at that time training programs were cassette tape) on a specific subject, for instance the subject of buying habits of customers, that he first reads 10 books and 20 articles on the subject.

From Brian Tracy's bio.

"Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 70 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.

He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 70 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

He has written and produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs, including the worldwide, best-selling Psychology of Achievement, which has been translated into more than 28 languages."

No clue where he was before Pittsburgh; I don't think he has ever led a major college athletic department that was a sustained winner.

And BTW, I don't think he's nearly as respected outside of Arkansas as Razorbacks fans seem to think. His basketball teams, men and women, have not won consistently and have been to the NCAAT only a few time and not won much there. And outside of Petrino's last two years, Long has been an absolute failure as the leader of the Razorback football program.

I'll be surprised if he lands a Power 5 job whenever he leaves Arkansas.

Long was an assistant AD at Michigan and OU. His time at Michigan overlapped with Les Miles when the grass eater was an assistant. He was at OU sometime after Stoops took over in '99.

Before that he was an assistant football coach at a few places, Rice, for one.

He pissed a lot of people off, especially the first year or so. Basically ran off John McDonnell.

When someone new comes in on a deal like that you gotta think changes are going to be inevitable. But I think some of that transition was a bit loud and brash.

He did do that. At one point early on his ability to even talk to one well know booster was so tense he asked someone else to intercede. He was told no. I believe he started to do a much better job after he had been here a little while though. I was told by one well known media person in Long's first year here he wouldn't last five years if that. It was going to be difficult to some for any outsider to come in and be loved by all. Especially those that were staunchly Frank's guys. Frank really knew how to charm folks. That is one thing Jeff is not as effective at. He has done some really good things but there will always be some lurking in the shadows with a job like he has. I also recognize some that he pissed off were probably always going to wait it out and pounce when they think is best. Maybe this is it or maybe not. Either way stay tuned.

Just an Awesome and spot on post by Wilson. I know I'm a "band nerd" status; but it's great being back. Anytime an "outsider" comes in & takes over for a legend; it's very incumbent on him to "embrace and foster" the culture; and LISTEN more than TALK and ALWAYS stay humble. I like JL; but think there has been an relatively new "aura" he has imposed around himself after the "national" accolades. I think he kind of "forgot" where he was; and why he was HERE; and I truly believe he has ruffled feathers that didn't need ruffled. I know nothing; but think overall change is needed; and hopefully coming to UA in regards to Athletic Programs and our FB program. As for the hire of BB at the time and the praise on that; I did not like the hire and thought I was about to eat my words after his 3rd year. I just don't think you can go from All Out Offensive Machine; Winning all games youre supposed to win; to a grind it out, win some lose more, and "hope" for a mistake from other team. I like both JL and BB; but in support of complete change and new direction in both positions and hope that comes at years end. Thank you.